Aaron and Eric speculate on just who and what Daryl Dixon is as he and Aaron prepare for their first scouting mission together. Aaric & Caryl.
Slight spoilers for S5:13, "Forget."
The Alexandria Junior League
"And you don't think this is gonna come back and bite us on the ass?" Eric said as he watched Dixon roll the motorcycle over to the ASZ gates where several members of his group had gathered to see him off.
"You know Deanna and I talked about it at length before I approached him. You saw the tapes." Aaron assured him.
"I saw a feral hillbilly loner." Eric scoffed. "Who hasn't seen a bar of soap or a stylist in longer than I can imagine."
Aaron chuckled as they watched Daryl pull on a leather sleeved jacket and then don his vest back over top of it when the sweater clad cheery woman with the short gray hair, Carol, handed it to him. As their hands brushed Daryl's cheeks flushed just enough to be noticeable and he murmured a soft thank you to her before ducking his head shyly.
"What did he say the reason he wanted to be here in the ASZ was?" Aaron asked.
"The kid. The baby." Eric grudgingly admitted, watching Carl, who was holding Judith up to Dixon so he could accept a pat on his cheek from the little one, which made Carol and Rick smile. The obvious affection the children had for Daryl was a good sign that there was more to the man than first appeared.
"Did you read the transcripts from the surveillance I did on them?"
"Dixon didn't say much." Eric shrugged.
"When he and Carol went off alone together—day before I approached them...when she told him he had to let himself feel their losses?" Aaron and Eric both looked more closely at the petite woman in the brightly patterned sweater and mom jeans still standing close at Daryl's side.
"Den mother." Eric frowned dismissively. "She's wearing florals for Christ's sake—look at the flowers!"
"I watched them. I didn't just listen—I watched them—and I didn't put it all in the transcript." Aaron said thoughtfully.
"What? What did you see?"
"Patience. Understanding. Caring." Aaron took Eric's hand in his, "Love."
"The JC Penney soccer mom and the Hell's Angel?" Eric snorted, "Seriously."
"You know better than to judge a book..." Aaron admonished, bringing Eric's hand up to his mouth for a kiss. "He stays here because he's bonded with his whole group—but there's something more there, more emotional, with her. He let her touch his hair, do the Hubble brushing it back move, and then she kissed his brow..."
"And here I was hoping maybe he'd bat for our team." Eric sighed with snark. They'd been dishing about the overall stunning attractiveness of everyone in the new group and Daryl's inarticulate blend of long legged surly swagger and sexy biceps had been especially intriguing.
"You're talking about my new field partner..." Aaron said, raising an eyebrow—was Eric's teasing covering for real concern? Was he jealous of Dixon?
"So I don't have anything to be worried about?" Eric asked, looking deeply into his partner's eyes.
"I think that his life even before the Turn was pretty shitty, and that Daryl Dixon has a hard time letting anyone in, but he let those people in—and it started with her." Aaron said softly, tilting his head towards the group by the gate, "You can see it; the way they are with each other. Rick can hold him back; control him with brute force if necessary, but Carol? She does it with a look, the slightest touch, a word."
"You see a lot." the low voice came from behind them and they turned as one.
It was Michonne, the other new constable.
"Officer." Aaron said deferentially.
"You're going out there with Dixon." the deadly looking warrior intoned.
Aaron nodded.
"Anything happens to him—"
"I know—you'll kick my ass." Aaron said, setting his jaw.
"I'm really not the one you should be worried about." Michonne raised an eyebrow and nodded towards the group surrounding the Archer.
They all watched as Carol took a step back, giving Daryl his space to shake hands with Rick and Carl, bump fists with the dark haired girl, Tara, nod at the odd man with the mullet, Eugene, and then clasp arms with Glenn and Maggie who had run up, late for some unknown reason.
When the young couple released him after handing over a small wrapped object, Dixon turned back towards the bike and stowed it in the saddle bags. He looked like he was ready to climb on, gripping the handlebars, but suddenly turned and grabbed Carol up in a hug, surprising her. The others around them exchanged knowing grins.
"Anything happens to Daryl?" Michonne asked and the side of her mouth curled into an enigmatic smile. "I'm not the one you'll have to watch out for."
Eric gave Aaron a puzzled look as Michonne sauntered away to wait her turn at a farewell with Daryl, who was still clinging to the small unimposing woman holding him just as tightly, her hands gripping the angel wings on the back of his vest.
Noticing that the embrace was attracting unwanted attention, Grimes gently put his hand on Carol's arm and leaned in, saying something to her quietly and she quickly released Daryl, who took a few beats longer to let her go as well.
The deadly squinting look Dixon gave Rick would've made a lesser man quail, but the constable just squinted back and said something that made everyone around them chuckle, breaking the tension, while Daryl distinctly said, "Fuck you," to the group's leader.
Smiling, Carol stepped back and Michonne moved in to grip forearms with Daryl. Carol crossed her arms in front of her as she stood next to Rick, and her smile looked more strained as she watched Dixon check that his crossbow was secure in its new carry mount on the back of the bike. She glanced over at Aaron and Eric, flashing them a micro-expression very much like the one Daryl had just given Rick, a hostile warning, that was gone just as quickly as it appeared, replaced by a benign smile and nod.
"Maybe you need to see about having meal delivery while I'm gone." Aaron murmured, "What with your ankle and all."
"Get to know the new head of the Alexandria Junior League a little better?" Eric mused. "See if there's more to her than casseroles and sensible shoes?"
"Oh, I know there is." Aaron said, tossing his backpack across to the passenger's side of the rusty red sedan, "I'm just not sure what that means for us."
Eric nodded.
"You watch yourself out there. Dixon's capable, I'm just not sure you can trust him. You're not one of his." Eric warned.
"Not yet." Aaron grinned with a waggle of his eyebrows, making Eric snort. The men embraced, kissed tenderly, and then rested their foreheads on each other.
"C'mon lover boy—ain't got all day." Daryl growled out a shout, not without humor, and then started up his motorcycle, its engine noise drowning out any rejoinder Aaron might have made.
"Come back to me." Eric said, making himself heard, his mouth brushing Aaron's ear.
"Always." Aaron responded and then released his tight grip on his lover. He saluted Daryl and got in the car, starting it and waving at the guard to open the gate.
As first the bike and then the car passed through, Eric crutched his way over to the group that had come to farewell Dixon, which was starting to disperse. When the gate closed only Carol, Rick, and Eric remained.
"He'll be okay." Rick said reassuringly, putting his hand on Carol's back in a careful gesture of comfort.
"He always comes back." Carol turned to him with a serene smile as the sound of the motorcycle dopplered away. When they noticed Eric's approach both she and Rick tensed slightly and the uniformed man dropped his hand to rest at his side, right above his Colt. Then Carol very deliberately squared her shoulders and gave the other man a bright smile.
"I hope you'll be able to join us for dinner now that you're on your own for a bit." Carol said, reaching out and putting her hand on Eric's forearm.
"I'd be honored." Eric smiled. "It's not every day I get to break bread with the head of the Alexandria Junior League."
Rick frowned at him, but Carol laughed merrily.
"We'll see you at six—or would it be easier if we brought everything to you?" she said, looking down at his splinted ankle.
"I'll come to you." Eric gestured to the golf cart that waited to take him back the house he shared with Aaron. "Can I give you a lift?"
"No—thank you—I need to stretch my legs." Carol demurred, waving him off. "I'll walk back with Rick."
"All right—see you this evening." Eric nodded.
"The Junior League?" Eric heard Rick ask Carol incredulously as the cart pulled away.
"...the Hubble brushing it back move," is a reference to the film, The Way We Were, in which Barbra Streisand's character gently and lovingly brushes Robert Redford's character, Hubble's bangs off his forehead. It's always struck me as the most romantic gesture!
Thanks for letting me have my therapy, LOL! Reviews are love:-)